Sriram Venkitaraman out of hospital, HC decision on bail today

TNN | Aug 13, 2019, 09.17 AM IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sriram Venkitaraman, the IAS officer accused of causing death of a journalist while driving a car under influence of alcohol, was discharged from the medical college hospital on Monday. The high court is on Tuesday expected to pronounce its verdict on the state government plea against the bail granted to the officer by a local court here.

Sriram was undergoing treatment at the hospital after he was shifted from a private hospital on August 4. He had got admitted to the private hospital on August 3 following an accident which led to the death of journalist K M Basheer. Sriram was driving the car in an inebriated condition, according to reports. However, Sriram denied that he was drunk. He had also, soon after the accident, refused to give his blood samples for a medical examination that would have proved if he was drunk or not. The samples taken nine hours after the accident had tested negative.

The state government had suspended him on August 5. Following complaints that there has been a conspiracy to derail the investigation, the state police chief constituted a special team headed by ADGP (law and order) Darvesh Saheb to investigate the case.

Meanwhile, Sriram had taken a bail from the CJM court in Thiruvananthapuram against which the state government had approached the HC.

In the high court, Sriram’s counsel claimed that he was not driving the car and that he was also not drunk. The prosecution also failed to provide the evidences to prove that Sriram was drunk.